MetaChat - AskMeCha - Chicago style. Fireside Bowl...is it as crap as it seems?

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19 February 2007

AskMeCha - Chicago style. Fireside Bowl...is it as crap as it seems? →[More:]I've long known the Fireside Bowl to be a somewhat legendary place. I have Avail's live disc from there and many of the bands I've seen in 'my' venues (i.e. Emo's in Austin or the small side of Gypsy Tea Room or Trees or whatever in Dalls) seem to play there. However, I've been watching these spectacular youtube clips from a Don Caballero show at the Fireside from '99 and the place, from what I can see, looks terrible.

In spite of the awfully good footage, the low ceiling and crap walls make it seem like the place is a cellar. It also seems like it would fit no more than 150 people. Is this the case? I'm just genuinely curious. I've been to Chi-town, but didn't go there, and a good friend of mine that I've kind of lost touch with from HS lives there (and is an editor for punk planet) but I'll be damned if those vids didn't shock me a bit.

I've been to my fair share of shitty clubs and house gigs, but this was not at all what I expected from a somewhat heralded venue. Kudos to anyone that can enlighten me.

post by: ufez at: 01:28 | 5 comments

The one time I went to The Fireside, we drove down from MKE to see Tristeza and Planes mistaken For Stars. The place had good sound, but was noticeably falling apart. When we left the club, my friend's window had been smashed in on the passenger side and I had to hold a sweater up to shield myself from the cold.

posted by drezdn 19 February | 09:31

The Fireside is small, and the stage is teeny (The Fireside was/is a bowling alley) they net off the lanes and off by the entrance is a small bar with cheap booze. The ceilings are low and it can be mighty uncomfortable but sometimes it's the only place to see certain bands. It's kind of beyond divey tho as it's not really a bar or a club, it really is a bowling alley. All that said, I've seen some good punk shows there.

btw is the fireside still open?!

posted by Mrs.Pants 19 February | 11:14

About a year and a half ago, the owner of Fireside Bowl decided there was money in bowling again, and did away with punk shows there. He cleaned up the place (except for the bar, for the most part) and you can bowl there full-time again. They still host occasional concerts, but it's pretty few and far between, and nothing like the old days. 'Twas a big uproar, because it was one of the very, very few all-ages venues in the city.

But yes, in the days of those videos, the place was a wreck. The bathroom was one of the worst I'd ever been in, like don't-touch-the-walls bad.

posted by me3dia 19 February | 12:03

I want to thank you for directing me to some great Don Cab and Hella vids, too.

posted by safetyfork 19 February | 17:15

Well, that's informative. Thanks for the confirmation. I'm just a bit, as I said, surprised that the Fireside was as crap as I've even seen (given those videos). It, I guess, had a great rep, but that may have been as much attributed to the all-ages aspect as anything else (considering how many bands were so adament about playing all-ages places in the late 90's).

Thanks for the responses, though.

Also, no problem, safetyfork. The only aspect of YouTube that I love is that I can watch footage of bands that I never saw live, and those Don Cab videos were golden. I'm glad somebody else enjoyed them as much as I did.

posted by ufez 20 February | 00:29

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